This invention relates to a new and distinct variety of lily classified botannically as a lilium hybrid and commercially as an upright Asiatic hybrid. I have selected the name "Corsica" as the varietal name for my plant.
My new variety of lily plant originated as a seedling selected from a group of seedlings at Julianadorp, The Netherlands. The seedlings were planted as a result of breeding efforts carried on by me since 1976. The breeding efforts had as their objective the production of spotless or inconspicuously spotted upright Asiatic lilies in shades of pink and rose, well suited to forcing for cut-flower production out of season, heretofore unknown in the lily breeding art.
I achieved the desired objective by extensive interpollinations among many hybrid lily cultivars.
The flowers of my new lily are characterized by an upright orientation and a distinctive cream white/clear pink two-toned color pattern. More specifically, the tepals of the flowers of my new lily plant have cream white throats suffusing to rich pink tips, accented by clear pink nectaries and a deeper pink "sliver" extending from them, and accentuated by inconspicuous spotting. This color pattern is unique among Asiatic hybrid lilies and in particular among those suited to forcing and to mass commercial cultivation.
In addition, my new lily plant possesses to a high degree desirable characteristics of hybrid vigor, great hardiness, and disease resistance, including a high tolerance of virus. It possesses all of the desired characteristics of excellence of form, color and habit. Its excellently formed flowers, of large size, are produced on a single stalk. The new lily plant is vigorous, a good grower, and a rapid propagator, as observed at Julianadorp, The Netherlands, and at Woodland, Wash.
My new lily plant has versatility both as a garden plant and as a cut flower producer. It is well suited to forcing out of season when the bulbs are dug at the appropriate time and properly precooled. For example, October-dug bulbs, properly precooled and potted in January, will flower under glass in Western Oregon, with no supplementary lighting and at moderate greenhouse temperatures, in an average of seventy to seventy-five days.
My new variety of Asiatic hybrid lily most nearly resembles the variety "Zephyr," but my new variety has a distinctive cream white/deeper color pink bicolor pattern, rather than the single and lighter pink shade of "Zephyr." Its flowers have fewer and less conspicuous spots, and they also carry a distinctive deeper-toned "sliver" of color extending 2 to 4 cm from the nectary furrows. "Corsica" has rounder-tipped and more cup-shaped tepals than "Zephyr." It is also a more reliable variety for forcing out of season, with stronger stems; and it has darker stems and leaves, deeper pink bud color and a more compact inflorence.
My new variety of lily plant has been asexually reproduced by me and under my direction at Julianadorp, The Netherlands and at Woodland, Wash. Successive generations produced by bulb scale propagation and by natural propagation from bulblets have demonstrated that the novel and distinctive characteristics of my new variety are fixed and hold true under asexual propagation from generation to generation.